Killarney!

After two weeks in Dublin accompanied by a strong desire to get out of the city, our class was ready to set off to our second destination: Killarney. Unfortunately, the bus service that was supposed to pick us up at 9am forgot to schedule a bus for us. We waited around until they could send another one for us which arrived at 11:30am instead, delaying us from our plans to visit the Rock of Cashel, but we kept a fairly happy mood as we left the city. Driving from the urban metropolis to the countryside was a beautiful thing despite the typical rainy Irish weather. Watching the houses fade away to rolling green hills hyped up our company as we were finally reaching that idealistic vision of Ireland. As we oohed and aahed at the scenery before us, we were met with a metaphorical bump in the road: the Rock of Cashel was closed due to inclement weather. Inclement weather? Ireland is the epitome of inclement weather! There was nothing to be done about it without completely going out of our way, so we journeyed on to instead take a short detour trip to the small town of Adare, a place known for its thatched-roof homes. We ran around the park after a good 2 hours of driving, eager to stretch our legs, but within twenty minutes it was time to move on. Most of us decided to nap at that point, because we had one hour to go to get to Killarney. We were awoken, though, by the uproar about a rainbow appearing as the sun came out while the rain still fell, and it was beautiful to see the colors shining over small farms and hills. Then, a second rainbow shone through, inciting cheers of “OH MY GOD IT’S A DOUBLE RAINBOW!” from the YouTube video. Even though our day had started rough and we missed a prominent Irish landmark, the glory of nature saved the trip. Before we knew it, we were curving through the streets of Killarney where we reached the Holiday Inn.

We piled out of the bus and got the opportunity to quickly run around the town itself which is incredibly small yet homey. After an hour, we ran back to have dinner where it was announced that the following morning would include a scavenger hunt to get acquainted to Killarney. At 7am, my group got up very early to complete the hunt and get a chance to win the prizes at the end of the game. Most other groups decided sleep was way more important than the scavenger hunt, but two other girls and I ran around town remembering places we had seen the previous day that fit the clues we were given and ended up being the first group to finish! Our reward was a 15 euro gift certificate to the local ice cream shop Murphy’s that is famous for having its ice cream made in Dingle. It was a great way to get to know the area, but I am always in awe just from walking from town to our hotel because of the Kerry mountains that are visible in the distance. It’s surreal to allow the realization to settle in, that you’re in this gorgeous country. I make sure to gaze at them every trip back to the hotel.

The rest of the weekend was spent catching up on homework since the weather was consistently damp, and we took full advantage of the Holiday Inn’s Jacuzzi on these cold days. However, before class resumed on Tuesday morning, we decided that we needed to get some hiking done. It was on Monday that we began our epic adventure of climbing Carrauntoohil, the tallest mountain in Ireland…